“If you think she’s the one for you, I will be happy for both of you.”
My stomach hardens with every word I say, but it’s not up to me to decide who Na dates.
I’m just her friend.
“Alright then.” Art rubs his hands against one another. “I’ll ask her to be my date for the wedding.” I breathe through the burning sensation growing in my chest.
Dan fidgets with his phone and chuckles.
“Sorry, guys, but Anna just texted me that Oliver beat you to it.”
Oliver Fucking Spencer.
Fuck buddy of my best friend.
The guy I’m sure she’s in love with but won’t confess her feelings for reasons I don’t understand.
Maybe because he lives in New York?
Because he’s still an emotional mess since his fiancée died?
Because she doesn’t want to be the cliché of the girl falling for her best friend’s brother?
I don’t know, but I would have preferred her to be Art’s date at the wedding rather than Oliver’s.
“Great, so now I need a date.” I grunt, leaving my seat to go sulk alone in the back of the plane.
As usual between Dan, Anna, Naomi and I, the gossip train goes fast, and my phone buzzes with an incoming text from Naomi. Na and I try, as we’ve tried in the past, to not get involved in Dan and Anna’s relationship.
However, the two lovebirds don’t give a shit about the boundaries of Naomi’s and my friendship. We didn’t talk for a while after I slept with Julie—something her fuck buddy Oliver was doing a lot at the time, but she didn’t seem to care one bit. We were already fighting about Anna being good or not for Dan, and she was pushing me away.
After my stupid hookup with Julie and her blabbing it to Oliver and Naomi—fucking shit disturber—Na and I went radio silent for a while.
Until I moved to Montreal.
Then Dan and Anna literally locked us in the same room for hours until we sorted it out.
There was a lot of screaming, but we decided that day we won’t butt into the romantic lives of the other, and we haven’t commented since then.
And I’m not going to start now.
If Oliver makes her happy, then I guess I’m delighted too.
Naomi: Cool right?
Me: Of course, Na. I just assumed we were going together, but I’ll find a date, don’t worry.
Naomi: He asked. I couldn’t let him go by himself.
Of course, she couldn’t. He played the poor heartbroken asshole once again. It seems like it always brings her back to him.
Me: No worries.
Naomi: I can’t wait to see you. Want me to pick you up at the airport?
Me: I’m beat. I’ll catch you later tomorrow.
Naomi: Oh, ok . See you tomorrow, Trouble.
Sometimes I wish we didn’t have WIFI on the plane.
All I wanted was a quiet flight back home, and now here I am, thinking about my best friend being used by that asshole, Oliver. Her little heart being crushed to the same rhythm I’m sure the guy fucks to—like a jackhammer.
Who fucks a guy with glasses anyway?
“You know he’s going to marry her if you don’t move your ass,” Dan says with a certain sadness in his voice while sliding in next to me.
“Well if that’s what she wants, that’s good for her. I’m sure Anna will be happy to have Naomi as a sister-in-law.” I shrug and avert my gaze towards the window.
“Anna hates the idea of her brother fucking her friends. It seems he has done so since high school. So marrying one of them? No, not her ideal plan.”
That’s the problem with planes. You’re stuck in it and have nowhere to go to avoid conversations you don’t want to have.
I should know, that’s precisely what I did to Dan every time I needed to tell him something.
I sigh.
“Let me ask you something. Close your eyes and think of her in ten years. What do you see, Lars?”
I roll my eyes. “I fucking hate your therapist.”
“Just humor me. What do you see?” I close my eyes reluctantly and picture Naomi, in ten years.
“She’s single, I am too, and we’re still friends, watching movies, eating pizza and drinking beer.”
“I said the future, not the past. You’re over forty, Lars, in ten years, you’ll be fifty… Eating pizza and drinking beer with your so-called girl best friend? That’s what you see?” I nod. “Do you ever talk to her about what she wants? Naomi doesn’t have baby fever, but she certainly wants a husband, to be married, to have someone. I’m sure seeing Anna happy has made her reconsider her lifestyle a little, and I’m telling you, my friend, if you don’t wake up, in ten years, you’ll be eating your pizza and drinking your beer alone while she’s happily married to Oliver.”
“But it’s not like that between us.” If I sound exasperated, it’s because I am.
Nobody around us understands our friendship.
Yes, we kissed once.
Yes, it was hot.
Yes, I would have done it again.
But Na and I are just friends.
That’s what we decided we’d be. That’s what is best for us.
“You might be able to bullshit her and yourself, but you cannot fool me, Lars. Get your head out of your ass, and get the girl before it’s too late,” he says walking away towards the bedroom in the back.
I watch him disappear, wondering when he became the wise one in the band. He used to be the one who needed the most attention, the most intervention because of his condition, but now that he has Anna, takes his meds religiously and never misses a session of therapy, Dan Darling is the most adjusted of us.
It’s scary.
It’s a learning curve for me, who was used to being the one in charge, the one in control, the one who did it all.
“Why don’t you write her an album declaring your love?” Art asks from across the plane. “It worked for that fucker.” He points at Dan.
“Because I don’t love her,” I grumble between my teeth.
“Of course. It’s obvious you don’t. That wedding is going to be so much fun…” he says sarcastically. I nod, agreeing. It’s going to be fun seeing her hanging on Oliver’s arm all night.
Picking up my phone, I text Chad. I could go sit with him on the other side of the plane and talk to the guy, but I don’t feel like talking.
Me: Find me a date for Dan’s wedding. No comments necessary.
Chad: Any requirements?
Me: Hot as fuck, not too dumb, ready to spread her legs if I need to give my dick a workout.
I don’t even look at his answer.
I close my eyes, trying to push down the bitter feelings in the back of my throat at the idea of going to the wedding with someone other than Na.
But if that’s what she wants, that’s what she’ll have.
I’ll never stand in the way of my best friend.
4
Naomi
I was hoping for Lars and I to spend some time together after being apart for weeks. Nobody can take my moods the way he does. I guess I have to thank Dan for that. Anna leans over my shoulder to read my text.